Sometimes there’s a major advantage to being second (or on deck so-to-speak)… especially when it comes to implementing something new in your classroom, in your school, or in your district.

I have to start with a quick disclaimer.  I believe we all need to be creative and innovative in education and that true change starts with those brave souls who try new things, with little resources, time, and support.  We can’t all simply wait for others to do it first.

Now that being said, the majority of change in education happens when we are connecting to new ideas that others are already implementing.  There are many advantages when it comes to being in the second wave of any new implementation in education. Using a baseball analogy… like a batter that is in the on-deck circle, you can leverage the knowledge and learning from the player that is currently at-bat.

Folks that are innovating often go through lots of trial-and-error before they get it right.  This can take a lot of time, and in some cases cost a lot of extra money.  When it comes to implementing new technology in your classroom or school, you can learn a lot from these innovators by asking some simple yet powerful questions:

• What did you learn while trying to implement this?
• What is working well?
• What would you do differently?
• What advice would you give to others looking to implement this?
• What are your next steps in your learning journey around this implementation?
• Who else is implementing this in our district (or around the world)?
• Can we come visit your classroom/school in the near future and see it in action?

An example I can think of from my previous school is when we started looking into purchasing iPads for the classroom.  We reached out and learned a lot from some of our neighbouring schools that had recently implemented them.  They shared what worked well and what they would do differently and this greatly shaped how we approached implementing them in our school.

Like the batter in the on-deck circle, you can be observant and watch the player at bat to learn and prepare yourself for your turn.  You may even get the opportunity to pass each other on your way up to bat… if you do, be sure to leverage that opportunity to ask some questions on how you can be successful with your turn at the plate!